Bourbon Brown Butter Caramel Ice Cream (Bryan’s)
- 1¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream, room temperature
- ½ cup butter (I use salted Irish; if you do not want salted, add ½ teaspoon of salt to the recipe)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 7 large egg yolks
- 1¼ cups chilled whole milk
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of bourbon
- A pan, pot, bowl or sink of ice water to cool the custard
The Caramel
Mix the cream, bourbon and vanilla in a bowl and set aside.
Take ¼ cup of the butter, put it in a saucepan and heat over medium high heat, stirring or whisking regularly until it just starts to brown. Pour this into the cream mixture and repeat with the second ¼ cup of butter. You can do the whole ½ cup at once, I just found it easier to brown and not burn a ¼ cup at a time. Set this aside.
Put the sugar into a medium saucepan over medium hot heat. Use a whisk to mix occasionally until melted, about 6 to 8 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling the saucepan (do not stir), until the caramel is very fluid and has turned dark amber, about 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and, adding gradually, stir in the cream mixture. If you do this slowly the caramel will not seize; if you go quickly it will, but do not worry. I just pour the fluid back into the bowl it came from, put the saucepan over low to medium heat and stir until any hardened caramel is dissolved, then start adding the cream mixture again. When you are done you should have a smooth consistent caramel sauce. I have been transferring it to a second saucepan to get rid of any sugar chunks.
The Custard
If this is your first custard you may want to set up a strainer to catch any egg chunks: place a fine mesh sieve over a medium bowl set in a large bowl filled a third of the way with ice water. If you are good with custards, do not worry about it. I do not do this.
First measure out the 1 ¼ cups of milk and have it ready, so you are not whisking and pouring milk at the same time.
Whisk the egg yolks and the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl until lightened in colour and thick, about 1 minute (either I am impatient or this is really closer to 3 or 4 minutes; I use a mixer). Whisking constantly, gradually add about ½ cup of the hot caramel mixture to the egg yolk mixture. I do this 2 or 3 times, to get 1 to 1¼ cups of caramel in with the eggs before transferring back. Whisk the mixture back into the saucepan, then cook over medium low heat, whisking constantly, until the custard is thick enough to coat a spoon and just holds the marks of the whisk, about 5 minutes (I do this with a whisk, not a mixer). Then either pour it through the prepared sieve into the bowl, or move the saucepan into the cold ice water, which is what I do. Stir constantly until cold, about 5 minutes, then whisk in the milk.
Process the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Scrape into a loaf pan or airtight container and press plastic wrap directly onto the surface. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.
Notes: I have added cookie dough to the regular caramel recipe, but have not tried it with this one yet. This recipe is incredibly rich and smooth.
(my own, built on the Bon Appétit caramel custard)